Brunei adopts Sharia law despite international criticism

Brunei is to become the first East Asian country to adopt Sharia law as the sultan confirmed the Islamic penal code on Wednesday. The move sparks broad concern over the rights of women and minorities.

Sharia law will be implemented nationwide starting Thursday.

"Today... I place my faith in and am grateful to Allah the
almighty to announce that tomorrow, Thursday May 1, 2014, will
see the enforcement of Sharia law phase one, to be followed by
the other phases," Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in a speech,
AFP reports.

The implementation of Sharia law would mean that residents will
face conviction by Islamic courts for their crimes. Most of the
laws will apply to non-Muslims, as well. The first phase, which
goes into effect on Thursday, will give offenders fines or jail
time for acts ranging from pregnancy outside marriage,
propagating other religions, or failure to perform Friday
prayers. A second phase will go into effect after a year,
punishing those who steal or consume alcohol with whipping and
amputations. The final stage will take effect in two years, and
will use the death penalty - possibly by stoning - for crimes
like adultery, sodomy, or insulting the Koran or the Prophet
Mohammed.

The implementation of the Sharia law sparks concerns over the
rights of minorities as about 20 percent of Brunei residents are
non-Muslim, most of whom follow Buddhist, Christian, and
indigenous belief systems. Chinese make up the largest ethnic
minority at 10 percent of the population, while the majority
ethnic Malays make up 65 percent. Brunei is also home to 30,000
mostly Roman Catholic Filipino migrant workers and many Western
oil workers, according to Reuters.

The United Nations spoke out against the revised penal code.
"We are deeply concerned about the revised penal code in
Brunei Darussalam, due to come into force later this month, which
stipulates the death penalty for numerous offenses," Rupert
Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human
rights, told
reporters. “The application of the death penalty for such
a broad range of offenses contravenes international law.”

Emerlynne Gil, Southeast Asia legal adviser for the International
Commission of Jurists, told Reuters: "A lot of these
provisions and penalties discriminate against women. Stoning to
death normally has a huge impact on women because more often than
not they are found guilty of these crimes."

Gay rights organizations in the Asia Pacific have condemned the
move to Sharia law. “It may open the floodgates for further
human rights violations against women, children, and other people
on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,”
two such groups wrote in a Malaysian Insider op-ed.
“Penalty by death sentence contravenes several international
human rights laws. Further, death by stoning constitutes torture
or other cruel, degrading and inhumane acts of punishment, thus a
clear infringement of international humanitarian principles and
universal human rights.”

Indigenous peoples who are not part of the Malay Muslim majority
are encouraged to move away from their native languages and
cultures, the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous
Peoples reported. The government also organizes proselytizing
activities and provides financial incentives for converting to
Islam.

But Brunei’s top Islamic scholar denied that Sharia law would
lead to extremes in the country. "It is not indiscriminate
cutting or stoning or caning," state media quoted Awang
Abdul Aziz as saying after the law was announced. "There are
conditions and there are methods that are just and fair."

Diplomats are taking a wait-and-see approach to the law, saying
it remains unclear how the system will work once implemented, as
well as how it will coexist with the existing British-based legal
system, Reuters reported.